Good afternoon, friends. It’s shaping up to be one of those days that aren’t super busy yet, but seem to be gearing up to pick up steam towards the end of the day.
THE BIG STORY TODAY
We’re heading to the polls this year: The presidential election will kick off on 1 December, with Egyptians residing abroad set to vote between 1-3 December, while those residing inside Egypt will vote from 10-12 December, the National Elections Authority head Walid Hamza said in a presser that kicked off just minutes before we hit send on this afternoon’s edition. In the event of a tied vote, the runoff will take place from 5-7 January, 2024 for Egyptians residing abroad and from 8-10 January for those voting inside Egypt. The authority will open the door for presidential hopefuls to announce their nominations from 5-14 October. The preliminary list of candidates will be announced on 16 October, with the final list set to be announced on 9 November, Hamza said.
THE BIG STORY ABROAD
There are two big stories piquing interest in the international business press this afternoon:
#1- Amazon’s intention to invest USD 4bn in Anthropic. The move includes acquiring a minority interest stake in the AI company that is a rival to OpenAI, the creators behind ChatGPT. The step was in an attempt to meet competitors as Microsoft has already signed on OpenAI. (CNBC | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal)
#2- Oil prices stopped at USD 90 per barrel in a move that comes after Russia placed a ban on diesel and gasoline exports that sent prices soaring making hedge funds eager for a slice of the black gold pie. (Bloomberg)
** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:
Egypt is being put on review for potential removal from JPMorgan’s widely-tracked suite of emerging-market sovereign bond indexes.
☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury is expected to peak at 37°C during the day and drop to a cooler 27°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.
NASA got its hands on the biggest asteroid sample since the Apollo missions : A sample of the Asteroid Bennu landed on Earth yesterday after seven years of travel through space, the National Geographic reported. Attempts to extract a sample small enough to be carried back to us, NASA’s 2016 OSIRIS-REx mission — short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer — resulted in the collection of a 250 gm asteroid specimen that will be studied at the Johnson Space Center near Houston.
250 gms of invaluable molecular knowledge: The asteroid sample — which was selected due to its proximity to Earth — may divulge data regarding the solar system’s past and the beginning of life on Earth. In fact, these ordinary-looking rocks preserve a record of the forces and processes that contributed to the creation of our planet over 4.5 bn years ago, according to Johns Hopkins University geophysicist Olivier Barnouin. “This material hasn’t really changed much since the earliest stage of the formation of the solar system,” he added.
We are just beginning to unpack the sample’s potential. Asteroids appear to be rich in carbon, aluminum, platinum, and other crucial metals. The discovery of water in small amounts could also have tremendous consequences. And while one capsule returned a sample from Bennu, another was launched to explore the asteroid Apophis by 2029.
As personal and professional boundaries are blurred, work-life balance is being replaced by “work-life integration,” according to an article by the US Chamber of Commerce. After the pandemic upended the way we work, new terms are being used to convey new realities. Rather than the incisive demarcations — both physical and time-based — that once separated home and office life, new expressions show how the two can often overlap if not merge entirely in situations where people work from home for instance.
But not everyone is into that. Skepticism regarding the new terminology is pervasive among people — dubbed “segmenters” — who think segregation between the two realms is necessary, Bloomberg says. Unlike “integrators,” the former are holding on to their “right to disconnect,” a possibility that is at risk when frontiers are obscured leading to work increasingly encroaching on personal life.
You’ve had eight years to watch The Big Short, but if you haven’t yet: Don’t worry, it’s still (scarily) relevant. The Big Short is the story of the 2008 financial crash in the US, and of the stock traders and hedge fund managers whose foresight made them mns off of the collapse of the housing bubble. While terms like “high-risk subprime mortgages” and “AAA bonds” usually make for dry entertainment, writer/director Adam McKay (who you may also know from Vice, Don’t Look Up, and Anchorman) gracefully side-steps arid exposition by employing the likes of Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain, and Selena Gomez, among others, to simplify and liven up the concepts. It is a star-studded production that includes the talents of Christian Bale, Steve Carrell — whose dramatic chops will never cease to amaze us — Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, and then up-and-comer Jeremy Strong of Succession fame. While it is a wildly entertaining and engaging retelling of true events, it is also a terrifying exposé of Wall Street and the shortcomings (both ethical and fiscal) of banking and stock trading.
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⚽ Zamalek and Pyramids are vying for three points to achieve the new season’s first victory, after reaching a tie in their match in the first round of the Egyptian Premier League. Pyramids will face the National Bank of Egypt in a match that starts at 4pm tonight, while the White Knight meets the Arab Contractors at 7pm in the evening.
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🍗 EAT THIS TONIGHT-
Finger-licking delights at Chickin Worx : A crispy fried chicken haven. The restaurant has four branches: Chillout, Ring Road, New Cairo, Swan Lake, Dahshur Axis, Sheikh Zayed. They also opened in Sadat Axis and Al Hay El Asher in New Cairo. The menu is short and straightforward: You are either team sandos (the Japanese name for sandwiches) or team tenders. The Honey Dream sando is a good pick if you love the blend of sweet-and-sour flavors — it also includes turkey and cheese added to the fried chicken. However, the sauce can be a bit overwhelming, so requesting a lighter drizzle might enhance the overall experience. The Buffalo sando would be a better choice for those seeking a combination of tangy and slightly spicy flavors: It's mainly a fried chicken, pickled cucumber, and a mixture of ranch sauce and slightly spicy buffalo sauce drizzled on top. All the sandos are served in buttered bun bread. Another top pick is the fried Mac N’ Cheese balls, it is a good appetizer and can also serve as a main course. You can have Chikin Worx at home, dine in or curbside, so that you can experience the food at your own convenience.
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🎤 OUT AND ABOUT- (all times CLT)
Head over to Diwan’s Zamalek branch for the book signing and discussion of These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany tomorrow at 7 pm.
Celebrate Moulid El Naby with the Cairo Opera House tomorrow on the main stage at 8:30pm. You can book tickets through TicketsMall
Mohamed El Ganouby’s solo exhibition, Image and Narrative , is open everyday until Thursday, 28 September from 6-10 PM at TAM Gallery’s branch in District 5.
Ramy Ashour is performing at El Sawy CultureWheel this Friday, 29 September from 8-10 pm. Get you tickets here.
Samar Tarek, Muslim and Molotof are all set to perform on Friday, 29 September at the Greek Campus. Tickets are available on Ticketsmall here.
Medhat Saleh will be performing at the Cairo Opera House on Friday, 29 September at 8:30 pm. Get your tickets on Ticketsmall.
Get your running shoes ready for the 2023 edition of the El Gouna Half Marathon, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 11 November. You can sign up for the marathon from here — and catch the lowest registration price with the early bird special which starts today and ends Saturday, 30 September.
Omar Khairat is set to perform at Cairo Opera House on Tuesday-Wednesday, 3-4 October from 8:30-11:30 pm.
Italian opera Teatro Di San Carlo is coming to Egypt for the first time with a showat the Pyramids of Giza on Wednesday, 11 October. You can book your tickets from Ticketsmarche here.
The Cairo Opera Ballet Company is bringing Cinderella to Cairo Opera House’ s stage on October 12, 13, 15, and 16 from 8:30 pm. Tickets are available on Ticketsmall.
Egyptian singers Ruby and Ahmed Saad are performing together at Misr University on Wednesday, 18 October at 8pm. Get your tickets at Ticketsmarche.
DJs Kygo , Tiësto, Kungs and Frank Walker are performing on Saturday, 28 October at the Giza Pyramids. The concert will be part of the next edition of the four-day Palm Tree Music Festival (PTMF) which will be held from Thursday, 26 October until Sunday, 29 October.
Jim Gaffigan’s Barely Alive Tour will hit the Marquee stage at Cairo Festival City on Thursday, 16 November. Get your tickets with Ticketsmarche.
Canadian pop star Charlotte Cardin will be performing at CJC 610 on Saturday, 20 January at 9 pm. Get your tickets here.
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💡 UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-
Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology andProsperity is an economic-historical study that extends a thought-provoking and bold perspective on the relationship between technology and prosperity throughout history. The authors argue that progress is not a reflex output of technological advancement — rather it depends on the choices we make regarding technology, its uses, and distribution. The book delves into historical examples, spanning thousands of years, to illustrate how technological advancements benefited a privileged few at the expense of the broader population. The authors highlighted instances where technology failed to create shared prosperity, such as the appropriation of agricultural wealth by the Church during the Middle Ages leaving the peasants miserable and poor and not benefiting from the agricultural progress. It then extends to today’s contemporary innovations in the fields of digital technologies and artificial intelligence which can exacerbate inequality, erode democracy, and invade privacy through excessive data collection through surveillance, automation, and without prior consent.
The EGX30 rose 0.5% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.5 bn (16.9% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net buyers. The index is up 39.2% YTD.
In the green: Palm Hills Development (+6.9%), Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (+6.7%) and Ezz Steel (+5.8%).
In the red: E-Finance (-2.1%), Fawry (-1.8%) and Telecom Egypt (-1.1%).
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